This Day in Gay Utah History SEPTEMBER 5th

September 5th

Francis Renault

1895 Francis Renault was born this day Antonio Auriemma in Naples Italy. He grew up in Providence Rhode Island where, after a show, he reportedly met and was inspired by the great female impersonator Julian Eltinge. Francis Renault was an active and popular “femme mimic” from the early 1910s to the 1950s. He is said to have begun his acting career as one of Gus Edwards kids in School Days in 1906. In the early days of his career, he worked in Vaudeville as Francis Renault. He got his break replacing Julian Eltinge in a touring version of his Broadway show.  He made his reputation impersonating the famous actress Lillian Russell, who was the great American beauty whose career and lasting pulchritude spanned decades before and after the turn of the twentieth century. Like Lillian, he wore gorgeous gowns. His investment in gowns was extensive. An ad for one of his performances in 1919 said he had a $5000 wardrobe. According to an inflation calculator, Francis Renault’s $5000 wardrobe would be worth $65,000 today, and that would be a huge amount for an entertainer just a few years into his female impersonation career. Another ad, from 1932, boasted a $50,000 wardrobe ($821,000 in 2012), and remember, 1932 was during the depression. That was one of the bragging points of Renault on stage…his fabulous wardrobe. At some theatres like the Palace, at which he appeared numerous times, his costumes were displayed in the theatre lobbies, where women could get a closer look at their richness and craftsmanship.” “In 1922, Renault switched from vaudeville to musical revue and was included, along with Fred Allen, in the Passing Show of 1922. Renault had a great falsetto voice. In 1923 Francis Renault traveled to Europe to perform in England and France.  In 1924, as vaudeville was losing audiences to movies and radio, he opened the Club Francis Renault in Atlantic City.” Unlike Eltinge, Renault was in the habit of wearing his female costumes on the street of the various cities and towns where he toured. This created a great deal of publicity for his show, but frequently incensed local authorities. He was arrested and released on several occasions for female impersonation, notably in Dallas and Atlanta. In Dallas a policeman who had seen the show and recognized him, arrested him while he was on his way to Weil’s Department Store to exhibit his $5,000 wardrobe. Francis Renault was one of the most celebrated female impersonators of the 1920’s and 1930’s, and stood at the top of his profession, along with Julian Eltinge and Karyl Norman. And his career lasted the longest, with him performing until just a few years before his death in 1955.  Out of costume he was a strong and masculine man, with many male admirers, one of whom was the young Archie Leach before he changed his name to Cary Grant. In his last years, Francis sang at Carnegie Hall billing himself as ‘The Last of the Red Hot Poppas”. In 1945 he was crippled with polio, and was paralyzed for two years. He overcame this and returned to performing at Carnegie Hall.

1902- Salt Lake Theater manager George D Pyper booked Country Fair-  Farewell Tour of Neil Burgess himself as Abigail Prue in an elaborate production of The Country Fair. “Neil Burgess as elderly “spinster’ in “The Country Fair” has become to be almost so much a household word wherever theaters are known, that his reappearance hardly needs describing. As a female impersonator he occupies a place all by himself, and he has for so many years that it is impossible to think of him in any other habiliments.” Deseret Evening news. Great Salt Lake City, Utah Last Edition pg 2, [From 1898 to 1929, Pyper was the manager of the Salt Lake Theatre. The theatre was torn down in 1929. As theatre manager, Pyper kept an extensive collection of photographs of performers; the collection is currently held by the J. Willard Marriott Library at the University of Utah.] Neil Burgess made a career out of this one character starting in 1888. He died in 1910 age 63.

Cast of NYPD

1967- N.Y.P.D. was the first television series in America to air an episode with a Gay theme ("Shakedown"). The police track down a man blackmailing gay men, prompting several suicides.

1970-The government of Columbia reduced homosexual acts from a felony to a misdemeanor, and reduced the maximum penalty to three years.

1987 The International Women’s Year 10th

Elouise Bell

anniversary was held at Liberty Park. Lynn Van Dam emceed  and Elouise Bell professor of English at BYU spoke. Bell said “Being a feminist in Utah is like  being a Christian Scientist with

Frances Farley

appendicitis” Frances Farley Utah Senator representing Utah's 1st District urged women to get involved in politics. Honorable Frances Farley served ten years in the Utah State Senate representing Senate District One. She was the first woman elected to that position, who had not been previously appointed.  She was the campaign manager for Representative Stephen Holbrook a Gay man

1989 Van Summerhill attended Unconditional Support in Salt

Van Summerhill

Lake City  to announce the formation of a chapter of US in Ogden. He had been one of the original members of the Salt Lake Chapter of Affirmation in the early 1980's.

Sen. Jesse Helm's Condom House

1991-AIDS activists inflated a 35-foot condom on the roof of Senator Jesse Helms's house in North Carolina. Peter Staley and other AIDS activists put a giant condom over Jesse Helms’ house. The condom said, “Helms is deadlier than a virus.” Senator Jesse Helms was one of the chief architects of AIDS-related stigma in the U.S. He fought against any federal spending on HIV research, treatment or prevention. He once said, referring to homosexuals, “it's their deliberate, disgusting, revolting conduct that is responsible for the disease.” Here’s another choice one: “There is not one single case of

AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy.” By saying words like this on the floor of the Senate, Helms gave a veil of legitimacy to every parent who threw their HIV positive kid out of the house. ACT UP New York was filled with angry young men who experienced this kind of Helms-related hatred. He proposed and passed laws that are still on the books, enshrining this stigma as official government policy. People with HIV couldn't travel to the U.S. The CDC was not permitted to spend money on preventing the spread of HIV among Gay men. Our country never launched a single well-funded HIV prevention campaign because of Jesse Helms. To this day, fifty thousand Americans become infected each year in no small part due to “Senator No”. Peter Staley videos

Gordon Lee Winslow

1994 Monday, INMATE SAYS KILLING WASN'T A HATE CRIME  Associated Press  Jacob Timothy Martinez says the death of a homosexual man at a Salt Lake park six years ago was an accident - not a hate crime. The 26-year-old inmate told the Board of Pardons on Friday he was struggling with Gordon Lee Winslow over a handgun when the victim was fatally shot. "The media has labeled me a hate criminal," Martinez said to board member Cheryl Hansen. "It's bad enough that I took a life." Winslow, 46, was sitting in his van at Jordan Park on July 10, 1988, when Martinez, armed with a .22-caliber revolver, and Mario Linn Fraga attempted to rob him. A

Mario Fraga

struggle ensued, and Winslow was shot twice in the scuffle. He died on the operating table at an area hospital. In a plea bargain, Martinez agreed to plead guilty to robbing a grocery store two weeks before the murder. In exchange, prosecutors changed the first-degree felony murder charge to manslaughter. Martinez was sentenced to 1-to-15 years in prison for the killing and up to life for the robbery. Fraga, 30, pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to 1-to-15 years and probation. In the presentence report, Martinez told prosecutors he and

Fraga went to the park to rob a homosexual, Hansen said. Martinez says it was Fraga who made those comments. "This wasn't a hate crime," Martinez said. "I didn't kill him in cold blood. I was struggling with Mr. winslow when the gun went off." Several of Martinez's relatives expressed similar sentiment. "We never taught him to hate anyone!" one man yelled at Hansen as she left the room.  _© 1998 Deseret News Publishing Co

1996-Rep. Henry Hyde requested that the GAO prepare a report identifying federal laws in which benefits, rights, and privileges are contingent on marital status prior to the enactment of the Defense of Marriage Act.

Jacob Orozco

1997  In early 1996, the nation learned of a battle being waged by a group of young  people in Salt Lake City, Utah.  Students at East High School wanted to start  a Gay-Straight Alliance to provide a safe haven for teenagers dealing with issues of sexuality and homophobia.  The New York Times and the national news media followed the story as the Utah State Legislature attempted to block Alliance members' efforts by passing a law banning all extra-curricular clubs so as to prevent them from convening. The East High Gay Straight Alliance persevered, and became a symbol of this generation's determination to make schools places where everyone is respected, regardless of sexual orientation. This year a young man named Jacob Orozco was to be president of the Gay-Straight Alliance.  Yesterday, Jacob took his own life. We had the opportunity to meet Jacob last March in Salt Lake City while producing a film, Out of the Past, which documents the Gay Straight Alliance's struggle and places it in the broader context of the history of gay men and lesbians in the United States. Jacob stood out as a dynamic, funny and seemingly confident young man.  Our camera was drawn to his energy and charm again and again. He was an accomplished athlete, a talented gymnast and an inspiration to the fellow members of the Alliance.  His apparent self-assurance made us both reflect on how far the struggle for gay and lesbian liberation has come since our own high-school experiences a mere decade ago. His death reminds us how much remains to be done.  Despite the support of the Gay-Straight Alliance at East High, Jacob had to cope with hearing daily reminders of society's loathing and rejection of gays and lesbians.  A recent  study indicates that high school students hear anti-gay epithets like "faggot" and "dyke" an average of nearly thirty times a day (Massachusetts Department of Education, 1994).  According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in six gay and lesbian teenagers is beaten up so badly during high school that they require medical attention.  When you're seventeen and this is the only reality you've ever known, it can be hard to imagine that things will ever get better.  It's no wonder that for kids like Jacob, suicide seems an acceptable alternative.  Nationwide, gay and lesbian youth are four times more likely than their straight peers to attempt suicide (U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, 1989).  Every year, too many of them succeed. As teenagers, both of us needed so desperately to hear that there was the possibility of a good life beyond the fearsome challenge of telling the world we were gay.   We were each fortunate enough to have loving families who went through a difficult transition with us and emerged intact, supportive and accepting of who we are. We hope the surviving members of the East High Gay Straight Alliance get the information, support and love they need to deal with the world as it is, and perhaps to continue fighting to make it a better place. If only someone could have gotten through to Jacob to tell him that it's  worth the struggle.  We just wish he could have seen himself the way we saw him - as a vibrant and impressive young man who turned handsprings on a sunny  lawn to the applause and admiration of his friends. _ Jeff Dupre and Eliza  Byard are independent filmmakers in New York. Teenagers who need information, referrals or a chance to talk about these issues can call 800-96YOUTH or 800-347-TEEN. >>

2003 UGRA hosted American Grandstand at the *Paper Moon. The show is modeled after Dick Clark's famous American Bandstand.  We are looking for performers.  Anyone interested in performing remember, You have to do a song that was performed on American

Bandstand and you have to somewhat look like the artist that performed the song.  Prizes will be awarded to the performers who best personified their performer.  Come out to the new *Paper Moon (3737 So State Street) and party with the Utah Gay Rodeo Association.  Thanks for your support!

2018 Utah Stonewall Historical Society celebrated two years of a monthly lecture series on Utah's queer history. Beginning at meetings held at the Marmalade Library the group moved to the Utah Pride Center in August 2018. The series of lectures covered the history of Gay people in Utah starting from the 1940's. Guest presenters have been Bill Poore, a theatric director, Chad Anderson producer of a documentary on the murder of Gordon Church, and Connell O'Donovan, LGBT historian. The lecture on this day was on Dueling Affirmations and the March on Washington from the year 1987.